


Musically Insane

by theworldswecantsee



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluf, Fluff, Happy Ending, Keith is a nerd, Kinda, M/M, Music AU, he just wants lance to be happy, lance plays all the instruments, mostly violin though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-17
Updated: 2016-10-17
Packaged: 2018-08-22 21:50:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8302474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theworldswecantsee/pseuds/theworldswecantsee
Summary: It had only taken Lance three days after becoming the blue paladin to realize there were no instruments in the castle. And even if there were, Lance figured they’d be too obscure and strange for him to be able to play.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Lol its been a month since I've written anything... whoops. Senior year is v stressful

Lance closed his eyes. He lifted his arms into position and felt the weight of his beloved violin on his shoulder. The red-brown wood was bright and hard not to notice. He placed the bow on the strings, the open A resonating as he pulled his arm back, putting only the slightest pressure on the bow. He could feel the eyes of his younger siblings as they watched him from the crack in the doorway. He took a breath and he played. The song was slow and peaceful. It reminded Lance of a meadow with a breeze quietly rustling the grass.

Lance’s eyes snapped open and he was yanked from his daydream at the sounds of sirens wailing. He dropped his arms and willed himself not to cry out of frustration. He rubbed the tears from his eyes and rushed out of his room to suit up. He had a universe to save.

 

~~

 

It had only taken Lance three days after becoming the blue paladin to realize there were no instruments in the castle. And even if there were, Lance figured they’d be too obscure and strange for him to be able to play.

That frustrated Lance the most.

Back home, Lance had been able to play any instrument he picked up. Sure, he was better at some than others, but they all had the same seven notes, the same scales, hell some even looked the same. He preferred string instruments and the piano but he would gladly play anything.

For the most part he would practice at least one instrument every day, so after months of not touching a single instrument, Lance was going insane. He glided his fingers across his lap whenever he sat down; fingering any piano piece he could remember. He would put his fingers into different positions to match the chords of whatever song was stuck in head as though he was playing the guitar. He shaped his lips as though he was breathing over the mouth piece of a flute. He would find himself sitting as though he had a cello pressed on the inside of his leg.

But the instrument he missed the most was the violin. He missed the feel of the slender neck between his thumb and index figure. He missed the smooth sound of vibrato and ringing of each note. He missed the feeling of the thin strings cutting into the tip of his fingers turning them red and sore. He missed playing until his fingers could hardly move and his shoulder ached. He missed the sounds of his twin sister humming along to whatever piece he had chosen to play. He missed all the happy memories that came with his violin.

Lance missed _his_ violin.

 

~~

 

“What are you doing?” Keith’s voice broke Lance’s concentration and his eyes snapped open. Lance turned around to face the bedroom door with his arms still up. He felt himself blush when Keith smirked and lifted an amused eyebrow.

“Practicing,” Lance kept his voice steady and raised his arms a bit as if that would explain everything.

 “Practicing what exactly?” Keith asked with confusion all over his face.

“Violin.”

“You don’t have a violin, Lance.” Keith rolled his eyes and Lance finally put his arms down in angry embarrassment.

“Maybe not here, but I do at home. If I don’t practice I’ll forget. And if I forget then that’s twelve years of lessons down the drain and I am not letting that happen.” Lance clenched his fist and felt a pain in his chest at the lack of calluses on his fingertips. Those were going to take forever to build up again.

“You play the violin?” Lance seethed and how Keith sounded so unconvinced.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Lance bit back.

Keith shrugged. “It’s just hard to picture you doing something as serious seeming as playing the violin.”

Keith could have decked him in the face a hundred times and it still wouldn’t have hurt as much as those words did. He hated the looks of disbelief people gave him when said he could play an instrument. He hated eye rolls and snickering. He hated it because it was like they were insulting a part of him. The violin was an extension of his body. So was anything else he played. His instruments were a part of him. So when people brushed off his insistences as a joke, it _hurt._

“Go to Hell!” Lance hardly registered he had yelled. He was angry, and tired, and homesick, and god dammit he just wanted to play the violin again. Was that too much to ask for? He felt tears sliding down his cheeks and he attempted to rub them away.

“Wait, hey, are you okay?” Keith started towards Lance.

“Go away!” Lance yelled. He hardly saw Keith hesitate before slowly nodding and walking out. Lance thought he heard a quiet “sorry” but he was sobbing now and could hardly focus on anything other than the pain in his chest.

Lance stayed curled up in his room for the rest of the day through the next morning until Hunk dragged him out for training.

 

~~

 

Lance went on as normal. He pretended what happened between him and Keith didn’t and treated Keith like he did before. Sure he was angry and hurt that Keith would doubt him about what he loved but forming Voltron was ultimately more important.

He did notice Keith acting more carefully around him and couldn’t decide how he felt about that. Their arguments no longer had as much bite as before but they still didn’t get along as well as they did with the others. Not to mention Keith had been acting dodgy for a couple months now and Lance was getting suspicious.

It was another sleepless night for Lance. He had been pretend practicing his violin for the past hour and a half but he couldn’t focus. His mind was scattered and all over the place. After they had all reunited from being separated by the wormhole Lance had been having trouble staying in his mind as he pretended to play. It was difficult to imagine the notes now and he was slowly starting to forget some of his favorite pieces.

Lance was convinced if he wasn’t already insane, he would be now.

Figuring a walk would help clear his mind, he decided to walk around the castle. That had been three hours ago. His feet were starting to hurt and his mind was still reeling. He kept one hand on the wall so as not to lose his balance in the dark and kept walking. He was in a part of the castle he was unfamiliar with but that didn’t stop him. If getting a bit lost helped him stay sane then by god he was going to get lost.

It was the soft plucking of an open D string that stopped him in his tracks. It was bit off and the string was definitely a different metal than aluminum but Lance was absolutely certain it was the D string on the violin.

Lance felt a sob build in his throat. He had missed that sound so much.

Lance saw light glowing behind a door down the hall and rushed towards it. He heard another string being plucked, this time it was the G string. Lance didn’t hesitate before bursting through the door and fixing his gaze on the closest thing he’s seen to a violin in a year. Lance would have leaped to grab it but fortunately his brain registered there was already a person holding the violin.

“You couldn’t have waited until morning?” Keith sighed and placed the violin down on the table he was at and crossed his arms. “Give me another hour; it’ll be done by then.”

Lance couldn’t figure out how to respond. He was torn between crying and hugging Keith breathless. Maybe both. Keith rolled his eyes and got up. He grabbed Lance’s hand and walked him over to the seat next to his.

For the next hour Lance sat next to Keith quietly trying to hide the tears that were perpetually flowing down his face while Keith made the finishing touches on the violin and the bow. It was made from mitched-matched wood that were varying shades of brown but it didn’t seem to affect the sound the instrument made. _Alien wood is magical._

Lance notice that there were hundreds of wood scraps lying around on other work tables along with bent strings of metal and odd colored hair.

_How long did it take him to find matching materials?_

Keith finally turned to him with the finished violin and a sheepish smile on his face. “It’s not perfect but I think it’s mostly built correctly. I played for about a month when I was twelve so I don’t remember much.”

Lance took the violin and held it as though it would fall apart just by touching it. He was at a complete loss for words and could only gape at the instrument.

He felt the strings and suddenly surged to pick up the bow. He placed the violin on his shoulder and closed his eyes. It was a bit uncomfortable without a shoulder rest but he could find a makeshift one later. Right now he just needed to play.

He took a deep breath and gently pressed the bow on the A string. And he played. Lace isn’t sure how many songs he went through. He’s not even sure he finished playing any of them. He played every piece that came to his mind and let his fingers do all the work.

Lance felt alive again.

Lance never saw the soft look Keith gave him.

 

~~

 

Lance had a problem. A big huge giant problematic problem and had no idea how to deal with it. He had been playing his violin for five hours now and his head was still a muddled mess.

A muddled mess that was filled to the brim with Keith.

It had been two months now since Keith had given Lance his handmade violin but also since they actually became friends. Who talked and joked and created constellations together. But most all Keith listened. He listened to every single note that Lance made on is violin and could immediately tell how the blue paladin was feeling. It was infuriating.

“Sounds like fire,” Keith said. He was lying on Lance’s with his back pressed against the wall. Lance had thought he had gone to sleep an hour ago so when Keith spoke Lance was startled out of his aggressive playing.

“How would you know?” Lance tried to sound like he was teasing but it was hard when he was constantly being annoying by wanting to kiss Keith’s stupid little smile.

“It’s my element, Lance. I know fire when I hear it.” Keith still had his eyes closed but his face broke out into a shit eating grin. “Are you thinking about me?”

Honestly, fuck it all. “Yes.”

Keith jerked up and stared at Lance with wide eyes. “What?” Keith actually squeaked.

“I’m thinking about you,” Lance said again. “I’m thinking about you, and your stupid mullet, and your stupid smile, and your stupid eyes. And I’m thinking about the way you look when you’re reading a really good book and the way you look when you’re sleeping. And that sounded creepy but you’re really pretty no matter what you’re doing and it’s not fair.”

Lance was nervously plucking at the strings will he spoke and kept his eyes down. As much as he loved Keith’s face, he really didn’t want to see it when he got rejected.

“Am I only good for my looks? Lance, you wound me.”

“What? No! You’re -“ Lance cut off when he saw that Keith was only messing with him and suddenly he felt like crying. He had been doing that a lot in front of Keith lately. He ducked his head again and heard Keith climb off the bed.

Keith placed his hands on Lance’s jaw and made him look up. “I like your stupid face, too.”

“Lance sniffled, “Prove it, Mullet.” He barely finished saying it before Keith’s lips were on his and Lance had to lean down to get a better angle. There was just so much kissing you could while holding a violin, though.

“Why don’t you put that down for now?” Keith asked when he broke away and gestured to the violin.

“But –“ Lance started to pout.

“Come take a nap with me.” Keith tugged on Lance’s arm and gave him the cutest puppy dog face Lance had ever seen. He sighed and placed his violin on his desk. Lance already had ten pieces he could play to relate just how happy he felt but they could wait until later. Right now he had a nap to take and a boyfriend to kiss senseless.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> so originally Lance was only gonna play the violin and then my brain just went "but what if he played more" and BAM music genius Lance was born


End file.
